Red to Blue
by HereticsRight
Summary: Serenity has taken aboard another crew member, another student of the Academy. He has no memory, and struggles to survive in a world that he has never experienced. Reviews are nice. Finished. There will be another story later, only with a new character.
1. Chapter 1

I don't own this, other people do, something about a sandbox...and all that other stuff.

Note: The micro-oven is not a microwave. This may sound weird because it doesn't even come up in this chapter, but it makes sense later.

This takes place after Miranda, I don't know how long after Miranda, but at least a month. Probably between one and three months. Inara left the ship again, tying up some business ends. Sounds weird when you say it about Companion...ing. (Guess Wash was right about using it as a verb)

River is still crazy, but a little bit less so. Simon and Kaylee are together, Jayne is NOT doing River, Mal is Mal, Zoe is sad. So it goes...

For those of you who are confused after the first part, there is a new character, that's not someone we already know or anything.

I tried to make each character have a part, but I don't touch on certain characters as much, though I really do try Kaylee doesn't show up as much as I would like her to at the beginning, but I'm working on fixing that. Zoe's grief does not take a big role here (but she is indeed grieving), I just didn't think I would be able to incorporate it that well. And who knows maybe we'll see Inara again. Or maybe not. Jayne is gonna get more important later on too.

This is a first for me. I would just like it to be known that I didn't lay anything out for this, this was written without any kind of plan except a basic idea. And a keyboard. Thoughts straight to finished product.

Chapter 1

Lines snapped in and out of focus, dull blobs floating around his vision. His vision slowly focused, the lines gradually sharpening. The ceiling was a dull white color; as far as he knew he was in a medical room, probably an infirmary on a ship or backwater moon judging by the lack of professional equipment. The room itself was small, with a counter that ran along three sides of the wall; the other side had a closed door. He could hear people talking outside the door, a dull murmur. He felt their emotions, a slew of colors. One seemed to have a lot of red about him mixed with confusion and other subtle emotions. The other was obviously a woman, his perceptions told him that much. She had different colors about her, much less red. He noticed an undercurrent of dark gray, sadness and sorrow.

The door exploded open, a tall man stepping through. The man who had a lot of red in him. He wore brown pants, a purple shirt, and suspenders. The man immediately started yelling at him. "Who the hell are you and why did you attack my crew?"

He was confused; he did not know the red man. "What are you talking about? Attack your crew?" He struggled to stand up, but realized that he was strapped into the bed. The movement sent waves of pain from his arm, which he realized was bandaged.

"You gao cao de little bastard. You came running up to my ship like a madman. Jayne had to shoot you in the arm. You mind tellin' me what was going on in your head little man?"

The woman had stepped into the room now, dark skinned with long curly hair. She was much calmer than the red man, a dull shade of blue. The dark gray in her was somewhat less than it was before, but was still there. "Sir, let's stick to some simple questions first. Like who he is?"

"Zoe, what a wonderful question. Let's start with that, shall we? Who are you?"

He answered, "I don't know."

"I'm not goin' to ask again, who are you?" The red in the man was darkening, roiling like river rapids.

"I…I don't know." He struggled to remember, some kind of name, a past, who the red man was.

"We could just get River, sir." The woman named Zoe said.

"Fine, can't hurt can it?" The red in him had diminished the current now smooth. He stepped to a black box just inside the door, pressing down a button with an audible click. "River? Can you come down to the infirmary for me?"

A man's voice replied after a quick second, "She's goin' Mal."

"Thanks Jayne."

A minute passed by, the unknown man struggling with his memory, trying to wrestle some sense out of it. He could only see static, flashes of... nothing. The unknown man exhaled long and slow, hoping to clear his thoughts. He looked through the room again, out the windows. He could tell that he was on a ship now by the metal walls in the room outside the infirmary. _Probably an old transport ship, definitely not a newer model._

Zoe stayed directly to the right of the door, looking out the window, staring at nothing. The dark gray had resurged in her, sorrow welling up to overpower her other feelings. The unknown man stopped for a second and thought: _What am I doing? How can I __see__ their feelings? How do I know what kind of ship this is just by looking out the window?_

The red man, "Mal," apparently saw whoever it was he had called down because he moved past the windows and started talking in a low voice. The unknown man couldn't feel them, see their colors. _Probably just because I'm nervous, I did get shot…I guess._ He settled back in the bed, not sure what he was going to do.

He looked up when he heard a noise. A small girl passes around the corner. He looked at her weirdly, past her long dark hair. He saw…a lot of things. He hadn't had this reaction with the others he had met so far.

The girl looked up from her bare feet as she rounded the corner and immediately started screaming. The unknown man could feel her screaming, something past just hearing her. He could see flashes from her, cold white rooms with deadly doctors. The screaming hurt more than just his ears, he could truly feel the fear coming from her.

Zoe turned immediately and started trying to console River, talking to her in a low, soothing voice that the unknown man couldn't hear, didn't want to hear. He was focused on River, the visions she was emanating. Almost like…memories. They were too quick to pick anything substantial up, but they were still better than nothing.

Mal turned and swore in a matter of fact manner. He quick stepped to the comm box, talking into it with a commanding voice. "Doc, infirmary now. River is doing it again."

Within fifteen seconds Mal heard feet clattering down the steps. Simon appeared around the corner, panting a little. His eyes widened as he heard River screaming, and he knelt at her side, looking at Zoe.

"Safe word Doc."

"Fine." He straightened a little, and pronounced very clearly, "Eta kuram na smekh."

River collapsed into Zoe's arms, Simon immediately picked her up and carried her back to her room.

Mal sighed audibly, "Well I'm glad that's over. Definitely brings some more questions to mind to ask our little unknown here. Oh…Qingwa cao de liumang! Doc get back here we have a big problem."

Simon sprinted back to the infirmary. "Captain you got me running all over the Serenity, what's wrong now?"

Mal turned to him, standing just outside the doorway. "See, when you went and said that little thing for River…" He jerked his thumb in the unknown man's direction.

Simon stopped. "Jian ta de gui!" The unknown man had passed out into the exact same state the River went into.

XXXXXXXXXX

"So what you're saying is that he's another River." Kaylee sounded more than a little confused.

"I don't know what he is, but he responded to River's safe word. He could be another reader; the Alliance wouldn't have just poured all of their funds into River. That was a big hospital that she was kept 

in, who knows who else was in there." Simon was frustrated. Things didn't make sense. "Why did the Alliance send another reader who was taken down that easily?"

"Maybe they weren't done messin' with his head." Jayne didn't like anything about this. _First, another crazy. Second, too much thinkin'. _He had actually gotten much closer to River since Miranda. She had calmed down a lot and hadn't done anything drastic since then. Like slice him with a knife.

"Not the best way of putting it, but it's probably true." Mal said. "He ran straight up into the cargo bay."

Mal had called everyone into the dining area except Zoe and River, who was still out cold.

"Okay does someone want to explain to people who weren't there what happened?" Kaylee had been in the engine room with Simon when Jayne shot the unknown man.

Jayne gruffly said, "Crazy guy came running up the cargo bay so I shot him."

"That's about it. Nothin' to tell us who this guy is or where he came from except River's reaction," Mal said.

"Where is River?" Kaylee asked.

"She's in her room. Zoe's right there to make sure nothing happens between her and our unknown soldier." Mal didn't sound happy about the unknown man in his infirmary.

The comm crackled to life, "Captain, River is talking to him. Or not. I don't know what they're doing." Zoe sounded thrown off kilter a little bit.

The whole crew relocated to the area right in front of the infirmary. River was standing over the infirmary bed with her eyes closed. Zoe stood just outside the door. "She's been like that for a minute now. She doesn't usually take this long to read someone, sir."

Mal nodded, "Well let's find out what it is they're doing." He walked through the doorway to the bed, opposite River.

River looked up and smiled, "He's like me!"

XXXXXXXXXX

"He's no trouble. He just doesn't have anything in head. His pages are blank." River sounded truly happy, something Simon didn't hear enough of.

Simon asked, "How can you be so sure?" The rest of the crew had spread out in the small commons area in front of the infirmary. They were all either looking at River or looking at the unknown man.

"He's like me! I can see him, the real him. He can't see as well as I can, just emotions." River was still happy, despite Simon's questions.

Jayne butted in before Simon could ask another question. "You know fer once I can understand what she's trying to say. I'm not knowin' who this guy is, but I believe River."

"Well what are we going to do, let him out? He could bring the Alliance back to us." Simon was doing most of the talking for the rest of the group. Mal was quiet.

"Why not keep him here? River can probably kick his pigu, and he can't go running off to the Alliance. River just said he's not a reader. We could do tests an' stuff to help River too." Jayne was, for once, not hazing a new arrival.

Mal finally spoke up, "You know, Jayne is making a whole helluva lotta sense. Not sure why. Why do you want him on board?"

Jayne took a moment before he replied, "If he's like River he can probably kick some mean tail. That can't hurt, unless he turns on us. Iffin he does, I already shot him once, why not just do it again? If the Alliance didn't finish his...surgery thing he can't be as bad as River. Plus I don't want him runnin' off and alertin' folks about us."

Kaylee spoke up now, "Can't hurt to have another member on the crew, 'specially since we don't got as many as before."

Zoe looked away. Kaylee looked down at her shoes, "Sorry Zoe, just sayin' is all."

Zoe looked back at Kaylee and managed a weak smile. "It's okay Kaylee, that's the truth, right?"

Mal looked back at the infirmary, then at River. "You sure?"

River smiled, "It'll be like having another me on board!"

Jayne groaned, "We already have too much of you on board."

River laughed and skipped up the stairs.

Mal turned to Zoe, "Go help her get the ship started, we'll get off the ground before the Alliance does something about this one." He pointed towards the prisoner. "In the mean time we'll get him up and around."

Jayne walked back to his quarters and lay down. He needed a nap after all of the thinking.

XXXXXXXXXX  
The unknown man pulled himself up from the bed, catching a glimpse of the reflection in the glass windows surrounding the infirmary. Simon gave him a hand up to his feet. The unknown man walked over to the window, looking at his reflection. A young face with short, dark, almost spiky hair looked back. The eyes were extremely dark but flashed green when he turned his head from side to side. Old 

scars were barely visible on his temple, jutting out just passed his hairline. His body was small, and skinny, but with a solid layer of muscle that rolled slightly as he examined his appearance.  
"That's me?" He looked up at Mal.  
"Yeah kid, that's you."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

One Week Later

The crew had gotten together several times already to try and see if they could shed some light on the man's past. The crew had already given the man a name, Miles Frye. He would pretend to be Kaylee's cousin if anyone asked. Jayne had already given Miles the nickname Moonshine, after they talked about Kaylee's homemade alcohol.

"Moonbrain and Moonshine. Too much crazy fer ten Serenity's I say."

The parts of Miles' memory that did work were things such as recognition of basic things, basic knowledge of the 'verse and in depth knowledge of some really strange things. Anything that wasn't found in the Cortex had to be explained to him, and most things that were in the cortex were just as puzzling. This led Mal to believe that Miles' memory was artificial, made up by the doctors that did the experiments to Miles and River.

Miles actually had a lot of trouble fitting in because of his artificial memory. He did not know any slang vocabulary, his Chinese wasn't as good as the others, and he tended to talk about things that didn't make any sense, except to River. Simon had come to a conclusion that River understood him well because they were both reader's, though Miles only did emotions. Miles said more through his connection with River than he said verbally, which made conversations with everyone else very difficult.

Miles' connection with River was extremely close. They understood each other extremely well and had shared pasts, though Miles' memory did not recall it. In fact, Miles had unintentionally started to work parts of River's past into his own. He would occasionally bring something up that had happened to River when she was a child as if it had happened to him. Miles had shown childlike behavior when they had first let him loose, not knowing any better. He had aged considerably through the week, probably through his connection with River.

The crew had decided that Miles was about the same age as River, which would make sense if he were part the same sort of experiment. Miles did not show the genius intellect that River had. He did absorb strange skills exceedingly well, better than River. He already knew the exact time needed for nearly every dish to be put into the micro-oven. He could clean weapons extremely fast, though his shooting ability would still have to be put to the test. He had spacewalked once and was able to do things in zero G that no-one on board had ever seen. His most frightening ability was his skills with explosives. He had made fireworks out of Kaylee's liquor, motor oil, and some other materials. He cooked toast by lighting it on fire with cooking oil.

Mal was certain that Miles' ability's would be extremely useful, especially with the way he picked up strange things, but he still couldn't shake the feeling that something would go wrong. He had had the same discussion with Zoe four times over the past week. "Why did the Alliance send him here if they knew he had the safe-word imbedded in his mind? They should have known we would find it. His attempted attack on the ship was absolutely terrible; he just ran up the deck and got shot. I hope Doc finds some answers when we reach that hospital."

"You know what sir, what if Moonshine wasn't actually attacking us? What if he just happened to be there for something else?"

"You know what Zoe, whatever the Alliance deployed an unfinished, untrained psychic to do, I don't want to know about. Actually I lied; I would want to know about it. I really hate these gorramn mysteries."

"Let's just get to the hospital where Simon can make some scans for now. And hope he doesn't pick up too much from River."

XXXXXXXXXX

Kaylee desperately need some alone time with Simon. The new arrival had changed things up quite a bit. _Having River around wasn't too bad, but having two? _Miles wasn't even a girl, couldn't share what Kaylee and River had_. I just need to get some me time. With Simon. Long gorramn week._

XXXXXXXXXX

Jayne was actually fine with Miles being on Serenity. He wasn't too annoying, and he kept River happy. When River was happy she wasn't annoying. Jayne did notice the toll it was taking on Kaylee. _Bein' happy all the time must be tough. _Jayne couldn't imagine being happy all day._ 'Less I was rich. _His eyes widened at the thought of that.

XXXXXXXXXX

Simon was actually glad that Moonshine had been taken on board. River spent most of her time with Moonshine, and less doing something dangerous. _'Course I don't know if they're doing something dangerous._ Simon was bored, no doubt about it. He had nothing to do with River occupied. He would be spending most of his time with Kaylee, but she usually had something to do, engine work if River didn't ask for her.

XXXXXXXXXX

Miles was loving the Serenity. He had no knowledge of a lot of things, so the cortex was a huge library for him. Any spare time that he had was spent there. Most of Miles's time was spent with River. Their shared connection was heaven sent for Miles, who just liked the company. Spending most of your life in the Academy wasn't much fun.

At the moment River and Miles were sitting back to back on the catwalk, River's old favorite spot. "Aunt Kaylee told me a story about the time you took down a whole bar. You think that I can do that?"

River snorted through her nose. "Keep dreaming, you're better at other things."

"And those would be..."

River sighed "Oh, I don't know, nothing." With a squeal she stood up and ran down the stairs, laughing on the way down.

Miles gave a yelp and stood up to chase after her. Instead of taking the stairs he looked at River's route down the stairs. Miles gave a running leap onto the handrail of the catwalk, running along the bar for a second, before front flipping to the cargo bay floor, right in River's way. River crashed into him, both tumbling on the floor laughing.

"Things like that," smiled River, shaking hair out of her face.

Jayne stood in the doorway of the cargo bay, staring at them. "What's so wrong 'bout the stairs? Cap wants you anyway Moonbrain, we're coming in to land. Gonna be weird coming back to Ariel."

River jogged past Jayne, dancing around him then back up the stairs, headed for the cockpit.

Miles moved past Jayne, up the stairs and into the dining area. Loud noises were coming from the engine room, meaning Kaylee was working on some last minute repairs. Or Simon. Miles didn't want to take the chance, so he plopped himself down on one of the couches in the back. Not much to do now for a while until they landed. He pulled out a Cortex data pad that he usually left on the table for times like this.

Zoe walked through the room, on her way to the bridge. Miles looked up from the pad. "Hey Zoe, your gray has receded since yesterday. And someone put in their food for a minute too long."

Zoe stopped, gave an awkward smile, not knowing exactly what to think. She stopped at the micro-oven, a burned smell. _Hey, the kid may not be as smart as River, but he's useful for some things. _Zoe gave up trying to figure out what it was exactly that she was looking at in the micro-oven, flashing a smile at Miles as she left the room. _Little kid doesn't act up half as much as River did when she first joined up._

Zoe walked down the corridor, stumbling when the ship made a little jolt. Either Kaylee and Simon bumped something in the back while...exercising, or they were entering atmosphere. The glow from the cabin ahead told her it was the latter. Zoe let out a slight sigh of relief, glad she didn't have to be the one that had to break up Simon and Kaylee's exercise session. Zoe entered the cabin, looking over to River, who gave a slight smirk. "We almost on the ground yet sir?"

Mal straightened out, "Gorramn it Zoe, one of these days I'm going to say...think something that isn't so nice for River to hear when you do that." He gave a pause, looked over at River. "Ten minutes?"

River tilted her head a little bit to the side. "Eleven minutes and forty three seconds. Approximately."

Miles popped out of the doorway, "No they set it on seven minutes, burned it all to hell."

River gave a nod.

Mal spun his chair around a look of confusion on his face. "Are we talkin' about the same thing?"

Miles looked up from his datapad. "Bank in Boros has a better exchange rate than Persephone."

Mal stopped, looked at nothing for a moment, spun his chair around and examined his sensor panels. _I can see why Jayne calls him Moonshine._

XXXXXXXXXX

The ship settled with a dull thump. Simon walked out of the engine room, adjusting his shirt. Kaylee followed soon after, beaming with happiness.

Kaylee stopped for a moment, looking at Simon, who turned around. "Is this gonna involve the same plan as last time? I don't think I can remake that ambulance alone."

Simon smiled, "Not my plan this time. Mal came up with is this time."

Mal appeared in the doorway of the mess "Yeah, and it's a lot easier my way. 'Course this time the machine is off on it's lonesome."

The whole crew had already assembled in the mess. Kaylee and Simon took a seat next to each other. Kaylee took a bite of whatever it was that was on a plate in front of her. "Ugh, someone burned this 'un."

Mal started to look over, shook his head, and began to address the crew. "Okay this should be a lot easier than last time. I did some research, one hall of the hospital is closed for maintenance, and it just so happens to have a brain scanner whatsit inside. I'm not planning on sendin' a lot of people, it'll be Simon, River, Miles, and Zoe. I'm going to stay here and see if I can pick up a job for us to do we need the money.Jayne and Kaylee can guard the Serenity. Kaylee you might want to finish whatever work it was that you were doing on the engine, I could hear you clanging around back there when we came in for landing. You should be able to handle that without Simon helpin' you." He gave a smile, obviously aware of what was going on in the back prior to landing.

"Move out people we'll see you in a few."

XXXXXXXXXX

Zoe strapped her lever action to her leg, and another pistol to her side.

Miles asked her, "Zoe I thought this was a milk run why are you strapping all those weapons on?"

Simon shot a glance at Zoe. "I don't think that the Captain knows what a milk run is. Things always go wrong."

"Ain't that the truth." Zoe knew better than everyone that the Captain's plans always involved shooting, but it was usually worth it. Usually.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Zoe bounded up the emergency stairs outside the hospital. _Maybe this __was__ going to be easy. _So far they had seen no-one, and Zoe was sure that no-one had seen them, at least so far. Simon was out of breath, but then again, so was Zoe. "I must be losin' my touch."  
"I think that your sense of touch is just as strong as it was before, Zoe." River wasn't even breathing hard.  
Miles leaped up the stairs, barely touching them as he came in after Simon. He gave a simple question, "Which?"  
Zoe looked back at him, not quite sure what to say. River replied "Fourteenth."  
"Shall we go in then?" Simon was eager to get off of the stairs and into a stable building.  
Zoe nodded and bashed the force window in with her favorite shortened rifle. She jumped through quickly, as it snapped shut behind her. The controls were just on the other side of the room. Simon said something that Zoe couldn't hear, River giving him an exasperated look. Miles said something, causing River to burst out laughing and Simon to shake his head and tap on the force glass.  
Zoe finally found the off function and the glass shimmered before giving out. Simon stepped over the window sill. River gave Miles a push as he went through, forcing him to pitch forward in a somersault back to his feet. River hopped through the window sticking her tongue out at Miles.  
Simon looked around the room, a simple hospital room with a bed. "Okay now we just need to find the scanning room. Zoe?"  
"My pleasure Doc."  
The hospital was dark, no light except from the windows in the patients rooms. Zoe knew that the power was on because the windows were operating, and their fail safes hadn't deployed. The map that Mal had provided was spot on, and much easier to navigate without doctors and patients everywhere, like last time.  
"I like it better when I get to walk in." Simon's voice drifted down the corridor. Zoe smiled, last time Simon spent the trip in a box.  
The scanning room was only a short walk down the hallway, small LED lights blinking on the equipment.  
"It's going to take a minute for the machines to boot up. You can go find the medicine room if you want, Zoe."  
Zoe nodded, the Serenity needed money pretty badly. Mal was picking up a job as they spoke, but a little extra cash wouldn't hurt. Plus it saved a lot of money when they restocked the infirmary.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Simon waited for the machines to boot up, turning the lights on. There were no windows in this room, so he didn't have to worry about intruding eyes.  
"River I'm going to look at you first so I can compare you and Miles." He patted the bed in the middle of the room.  
River hopped up and lay down. The machinery immediately began to work, projecting a display of River's gray matter into the air. Simon reviewed the damage, memorizing the scars. He hated to look at the image, it just seemed wrong.  
"It's okay Simon." River had sneaked a peak in Simon's head.  


"Thanks Riv. You can get up now."  
River sat up, and the display immediately disappeared. Miles lay down on the bed, not sure what to think.  
"Don't worry Miles, this doesn't hurt at all." Simon busied himself with the new image, rotating it around, scanning the surface. Simon is talking almost absent minded to River, who looked like she wanted to leave, uncomfortable with the room. "There's scarring on the limbic system, just like you. This isn't quite as bad. Not much else to...wait." Simon paused for a moment. "Tzao gao! He's got scars over here. And...this shouldn't be here. They changed his coordination system. His balance must be perfect. Brain activity runs differently than most people's, his sight perception runs through different clusters. Alright I'm going to save this, then we can get out of here." The machine beeped and a card popped out of the control panel. Simon grabbed it and started to move toward the exit. "Let's go."  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Zoe had packed a duffle bag filled with medicine. Some of it was really expensive, some of it was less so, but extremely useful on border planets. She had just finished pulling the strap over her shoulder when Simon walked through the door. "Finished?"  
Simon nodded, "I got what I need. This stuff is pretty creepy. Let's get out of here."  
Zoe adjusted the strap of the duffle bag and walked out into the hallway. "We'll leave the same way that we came."  
Simon led River down the hallway. She was obviously shaken by the machines, reminded of the Academy. Miles, on the other hand, was blissfully unaware, with no memory of the Academy to speak of.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
The climb down was much easier, even with the duffel bag of medicine. Once Zoe had reached the bottom, she pulled a covering off of the Mule. The distance to the hospital was quite far, and the Mule had been necessarry without the ambulance they had last time.  
"I'd say that went well." Simon was on the trailer looking out at theair traffic that went by.  
"A little too well for one of Mal's plans." Zoe was happy that she hadn't been shot at today. "You know, I'm a little dissappointed in Mal."  
Simon laughed, "It is a first."  
River and Miles were staring out at the traffic, almost oblivious to Zoe and Simon's conversation. River's head jerked to one side, a sudden look of fear on her face. Miles turned a second later, his face worried.  
Simon noticed, and leaned over to River, "What is it?"  
"Two by two..."  
Simon turned to Zoe, "Step on it!"  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Mal had a good day. He hadn't been shot at. Or stabbed. Or bludgeoned. A good day.  
He had picked up a job from a contact on Ariel, to deliver supplies to one of the outer planets. Stolen supplies. Mal loved sticking it to the Alliance, although this run did remind him of the last time he ran a supply run. Patience wasn't too happy about that. Luckily Patience wasn't the buyer this time, though he wouldn't mind taking a shot at her.  
Mal was at the Serenity, waiting for Zoe and the others to get back, he needed the Mule to pick up the 

crates. He spent his time in the cargo bay, sitting on a box. _Things were so boring when you didn't go on the missions. Especially one of my missions.  
_Jayne had trooped back to the mess for something to eat, and Kaylee was wrestling with a power coupling. Mal finally heard the Mule pulling up to the front, Zoe sped straight into the cargo bay. Mal hopped up to his feet, "What's the rush?"  
Zoe dismounted quickly, pointing at River.  
"Two by two..."  
Mal sprinted up to the cockpit, rushing to the controls and starting the Firefly up. He switched on the comm system, trying to sound as calm as possible. "Kaylee get her started, we have a minor problem. Zoe come on up, Simon get River calm. Jayne...would you kindly find Vera? We have to pick up some cargo and get the hell out of here."  
Zoe quickly walked through the doorway and seated herself at the co-pilot's seat. "Where's the cargo?"  
"Warehouse on the east side. I'll bring her in then go back to help haul them in. You stay here and get her ready to take off when I tell you. I don't want to have anything to do with the Blue Hands."  
The Serenity quickly dove into an open area by the warehouse. The cargo bay opened up, and Jayne drove the Mule out towards the warehouse. Mal ran and jumped on board just as it was leaving the cargo bay.  
Simon had taken River down to her quarters, Miles wandering after. He sat her down on her bed. "River we're getting off Ariel, don't worry. I have to go help move some of those boxes and organize some of the stuff that Zoe brought in. Miles stay with her and keep her from doing anything...drastic."  
Miles nodded and sat down next to River. She leaned her head on his shoulder, murmering "Two by two, hands of blue" over and over. Miles used his connection with River to understand what was going on. He was more than a little confused.  
River shook a little and thoughts started to pour into Miles. He couldn't stop them, they came too fast, too many. All of them sad, helpless. He looked down at his hands, realized that he was slowly turning redder and redder. A sudden image of doctors standing overhead, passing a scalpel to each other started to boil the red. His hands were an angry, vicious red, the color roiling within him.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Mal pulled the Mule into the Serenity's cargo bay. Simon quickly rushed to the door control. Mal shouted over to him, "Don't, Jayne had to run back. Tell Zoe everything is almost ready."  
Simon stopped short of closing the doors, and instead turned to the comm box. "Zoe get ready, we're just waiting for Jayne to hoof it back."  
"You can tell the Captain that a shuttle's coming."  
Simon whirled around, Mal had his gun drawn and was standing in the front of the cargo bay. "Captain there's.."  
Mal interuppted, "I see it. Jayne's on the way."  
The shuttle was sleek, with metallic blue stripes running down each side. It settled in the ground between Jayne and the Serenity. Simon could see Jayne scrambling to stay away from the landing craft, starting to run around it. Vera was in his hands, a grimace on his face as he sprinted towards the Serenity.  
The shuttle had popped it's hatch, and a pair of men slowly walked out. Mal took aim, but knew he 

wouldn't be able to hit them with his pistol. Simon ran to the weapons locker, pulling out a submachine gun, the largest gun he felt he could handle well. He slipped a pistol onto the ground next to the cargo bay door, in case he would need it later.  
Jayne was sprinting back to the ship, but the two men were approaching too quickly to get off the ground without leaving Jayne. Mal took aim with his pistol, but paused when he saw a dark streak fly past his peripheral vision. _Who the hell is that? _  
Simon was holding cover just inside the door, hoping that Mal would do something before he shot. Simon didn't like the thought of killing something. _I'm a doctor. I help people, not harm._ Simon saw Mal raise his gun, taking careful aim. The two men were jogging, but deceptively fast. Simon felt a breath of air on the back of his neck. He turned around, and saw a flash that could have only been... _Miles?  
_Miles had sprinted from River, the thoughts she had imparted on him causing the rage in him to overflow. He was glowing red, his feelings almost overloading his sense of emotion. As he entered the cargo bay, Mal was standing in a shooting stance, no fear in him. His gun was raised, his color solid. Simon on the other hand, was swirling with fear, though Miles could see that he was ready to shoot if it was absolutely necessary. Jayne was sprinting toward the ramp, a solid color as always. Miles didn't stop to work out details, didn't check to see if he was scared or not. A wrench was laying on the ground, and a gun near the entrance. Miles rolled past the wrench, grabbing hold of it as he past. He scooped up the gun as he passed Simon.  
There were no thoughts in Miles' head, just an image straight from River's mind. Doctors with cutting tools, looking down at their patient. Looking down at River. Miles stretched his perceptions, saw the two swirling blobs of black, not even human. Monsters. One began to pull out some sort of weapon, a small T-Shaped device. Miles, without pausing, shot it straight out of his hand. The other mass mimicked the motion, Miles shot him in the chest.  
Simon looked out as Miles took his two shots. The Blue Hands barely flinched when they were shot. _Armor?_ Miles did manage to take out one of the devices, and made the second drop his.  
Mal looked out at Miles attacking the Blue Hands. He dropped his pistol to his side. _Just as likely to hit Miles. I probably can't face them hand to hand either. I hope those bastards made him as good as River.  
_Miles quickly charged the second man, kicking the T-shaped device at his feet away. He swung the wrench at the man's kneecap, hoping to break it. The man jumped back and swung a fast punch, aimed for Miles head. Miles brought his left hand up, his gun hand, and pushed the punch to the side, swinging the wrench across to hit the man's elbow. The elbow buckled on impact, but the blow did not hurt the man as much as it should. _This armor is good._ The other Blue Hand aimed a swift kick at Miles' side, hoping to hit just under the ribs. Miles felt the black mass moving, though he could not see it. He immediately grabbed the arm of the agent that he was dealing with, dropping the wrench in order to wrap his fingers on the Blue Hand's wrist. Miles ducked under the arm, and pulled the man across his body and into the kick. As he continued to spin around, hearing the dull thud of a kick connecting, he swung his left arm into position, firing three shots at the attacker's head. His first hit the man in the shoulder, the second creased the side of the mans head, tearing flesh from his ear off. The third missed just wide.  
The two Blue Hands backed off, dropping into fighting crouches. Miles smiled, feeling a sudden calm from Jayne's presence at the entrance to Serenity's cargo hold. Three shots from Vera tore through one of the Blue Hands, spraying blood on the second man. The Blue Hand recoiled for a quick second, quickly 

shuffling to put Miles in between him and Jayne. Miles charged, ducking under the man's guard, grabbing the man's suit with his right hand. The Blue Hand tried to jump back, but Miles jerked his jacket closer, and swinging with a hard left.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Mal had watched the battle rather helplessly. He couldn't do anything for Miles without fear of hitting Miles. The armor that the Blue Hand's wore was too strong to make any shots anyways. Jayne on the other hand, had the perfect weapon. Set on single fire, the scope allowed Vera to be fired with near pinpoint accuracy. Jayne cut down the first blue hand with ease, his armor piercing bullets tearing straight through the armor.  
Mal watched as Miles squared off against the second enemy, how easy he ducked the man's defenses and swung a mean left. As the man collapsed to the ground, Mal loped over, looking over the bodies. Vera had made a mess of the first enemy, through and through shots. A fine spray of blood had misted the ground behind him. The second man had bullet holes in his jacket, the armor dispersing the shots. The real wound came from Miles final punch, leaving a the barrel of a pistol lodged firmly in the man's eye socket up to the trigger guard.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Miles easily finished the second enemy. He looked down at his hands, a violent throb of red still remained. The gross pools of black on the enemy had died out, leaving two men with blue gloves lying dead on the ground. Miles gave a roar of anger, the image of the doctors still clear in his mind. Mal skidded to a stop behind him, his eyes bugging out as he saw the pistol lodged in the man's eye. Miles bent over, and pulled the trigger, squeezing it over and over until the clicks of an empty magazine finally echoed in his mind. He dropped to his knees and slammed the man's head up and down into the ground, never relinquishing his grip on the pistol. The pistol finally slipped free, a violent jerk that sprayed Miles with gray matter and blood. Mal positioned himself as far away as possible from the gore covered pistol as he led Miles back to the Serenity.  
Red turned to a cool blue.


	4. Chapter 4

There are a few places where it double spaced when I copied it in, but those aren't the same thing as the XXXXX things. Ignore the double spaces.

Chapter 4

Simon had given Miles a look over back in the infirmary. _Wasn't even touched._ He pulled out a syringe and injected it into Miles. Miles didn't give any resistance. Simon stood him up and led him back to his room, the sleeping agent quickly dulling Miles' senses.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Mal was sitting in his pilot's chair, a little shaken at what he had seen. _Not as bad from some things I saw in the war, but close to it. All I gotta do is finish this drop. I can worry about everything else later.  
_ Serenity sailed smoothly through the black, a lone traveler.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Miles had finally woken up from whatever it was Doc gave him. _Best night of sleep since...ever._ He wandered up the ladder to the mess, his stomach growling. He could hear Simon clattering around in the infirmary on his was up the ladder, organizing his new supplies. He stopped in the mess, heating up a plate of unidentifiable protein. _Four minutes twenty three seconds. Approximately._ Miles walked back to into the hallway holding his protein in a a steaming bowl. He heard clanging again from the engine room, but at least this time he knew Simon wasn't involved. Spooning some of the protein into his mouth, Miles walked to the engine room, Kaylee's presence emanating bright colors of happiness.

Kaylee was leaning over the rotating engine piece, fiddling with some kind of cylinder. Miles leaned against the wall, swallowing a spoonful of protein sludge.

"Teach me."  
Kaylee turned, a surprised look on her face. The look quickly turned to a smile, "Sure, you can help me replace this piece. I'll show you the ropes."  
Miles smiled, happy to have something new to learn.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Miles struggled with a stubborn component. He was on his back, settled under the main rotating piece. Kaylee was fixing some hydraulic wires. She was surprised how fast he learned the basics and even the more advanced skills.  
Miles didn't talk to the Serenity like Kaylee did, he just saw clarity in all of the connections. Every piece was connected to something else, each connection was important. He already knew nearly all of the pieces, nearly all of the connections. Being a mechanic was just a task in keeping the connections running. Kaylee had to show him all of the problems, but he figured out how to solve most of them, with a little help of course.  
Miles finally set the component, a solid click rewarding his efforts. He rolled out from under the engine, a big smile on his face, oil and grease staining his skin. Kaylee looked up from the hydraulics box, resetting wires with ease. "We'll make a mechanic out of you yet."  
"Thanks Aunt Kaylee. What else should I do?"  
"There's not much else to do. I'll finish up and you can go take a shower. We're eating soon."  
"Okay Aunt K."  
XXXXXXXXXX

River sat in her room, scanning over the minds on board the ship. She had already pieced together what had happened from Mal and Jayne. She had chosen to pass over Miles for now, he was sleeping. Simon's sleeping shot had set off Miles inner clock, leaving him a little off. He had gone to bed an hour after the crew had finished eating. Zoe was in her room, feeling more than a little depressed. River shivered, hugged her knees. She moved on to Kaylee, whose mind was currently enthralled with a small box of strawberries that she had picked up on the stop before Ariel. Jayne was...Jayne. Big guns and money. It was comforting to have Jayne on the ship; his thoughts were very static unless he was angry. Mal was up in the bridge going through the fight, trying to piece together the mystery that was Miles' past. Simon was in the infirmary, trying to keep his mind off of the Blue Hand's head. He had gone out to see if there was anything he could do to help. Jayne's kill was a little bloody, but the bloody lump that used to be a head was disgusting.  
River wandered through thoughts, trying to keep away from Miles. His brain activity was high, a nightmare. River hated it when she got caught in a nightmare; Mal had some about the war on occasion. Zoe had a recurring dream that was just the sight of Wash's dead body.  
Miles' nightmare was pulling, dragging River into it. River struggled out of its grasp, but it was unrelenting. She finally closed her eyes, letting her mind wander into it freely.  
She appeared in a cold, bright white room. Large banks of machinery covered the walls, including a machine that looked like the brain scanner's twin, though slightly smaller. She looked down, an operating table surrounded by doctors sat isolated in the middle of the room. River approached, knowing that she was immaterial, not a participant in the dream. A small body lay clamped on the table, stripped to the waist. River circled the table, finding an open spot near the head of the table. Miles' was completely strapped down, unable to move any part of his body. His eyes were alert, darting back and forth between doctors exchanging tools.  
One of the doctors, an anonymous man with a surgical mask, goggles, and a white head bandanna, spoke up. "So why can't we give him knock him out again? Can't we at least give him painkillers?"  
A man standing at the base of the table, down by Miles' feet replied, "Drugs would ruin the surgery. Besides, it's not like he's human or anything."  
The doctor at the head of the table pulled out a small saw. "Let's get going."  
River gasped in horror, backing up against one of the machines. She curled into a ball at the ground, crying silently. She could not escape the dream. Dreams pulled you in and held you, becoming a nightmare for both the dreamer and River.  
The doctors went to work, surgical saws whirring. Small whimpering noises were coming from Miles, who was unable to make any other noise because of the clamp on his mouth. River tried to cover her ears, but the dream forced itself into her head. The whimpers finally stopped. River stood to check on Miles, to see if the surgery had finished. Miles was still conscious, streaks of tears down his face. The doctors had finished cutting open his head, and were prepping to start the real surgery. River gasped, looking directly at Miles brain. River's body threw up, though her conscious self was still in Miles' dream.  
The doctors finally began the brain surgery, and Miles passed out because of pain. The room faded to black as Miles' dream ended.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Simon heard sudden sobbing coming from River's room. He ran to her room, tearing open the door. River was crying, curled up in a ball in the corner of her room, covered with everything that she had eaten at the last dinner. Simon used his calmest voice, trying to soothe her.  
A sudden yell came from another passenger cabin. It had to be Miles. He sounded in pain. Simon had only heard someone use that sort of voice once, when he was forced to do surgery without painkillers.  
XXXXXXXXXX  


Jayne had reacted to the scream of pain first, sliding open the door to see Miles scratching at his temples. "Woah kid it was just a dream."_ 'Less your brain is explodin'._ "Come on kid, quit messin' around."  
Miles finally stopped struggling. He blinked his eyes. Jayne was a tinged with fear, but still retained a steady blue. Miles had to blink blood out of his eyes, his temples bleeding. His fingers were dripping with blood as well. "I don't want to remember, I don't want to remember, I don't want to remember..."  
"Gorramn it, where's the Doc." He stuck his head out of the door, "Doc! We got a problem. Kid's memberin' stuff."  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Simon left River with Kaylee, who had come down when she heard Miles' scream of pain. Simon strode into Miles' room. Miles was sitting on the ground, leaning against the wall, his head hanging down in front of him. Blood dripped down his face from his temples. Simon knelt next to him. Miles looked up, his eyes unfocused and staring at nothing. "My memory is gone, gone down the drain. They did it wrong, embrace the pain." He paused for a moment before turning to look at Simon. "It's not like I'm human or anything."  
Simon, his voice soft as a whisper, replied, "Eta kuram na smekh." Miles' head dropped. Simon stood up and turned to Jayne, "Bring him to the infirmary," and went to fetch his red bag.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
River was curled up on the counter-bed in the infirmary. Miles was lying on the center bed, slowly stirring out of sleep. He sat up slightly, groaning as a headache hit him. "Hey Riv, do all memories hurt like mine?"  
"No-one's memories hurt like yours."  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Mal had heard what happened the other night, he just wasn't about to go do something about it. River had retaken her position as pilot, pulling Serenity into dock at the station that the cargo was to be dropped off at. Mal walked down to the cargo bay, where Jayne was getting the crates into position to be taken out of Serenity. Mal's buyer was going to pick it up at Serenity. Jayne had three weapons on his body, and a shotgun laying nearby. Zoe took up a position across the cargo bay from the crates to cover Mal and Jayne. Mal stood directly in the middle of the bay, waiting to see who picked up the goods. It wasn't long before four heavily armed men walked up the landing bay. Mal held his hands out in front of him, "Not looking for trouble, just want to get this off my ship."  
One of the men spit a huge gob of something brown on the cargo bay floor. "You got everything?"  
"I do, now if you'll just pay me my money I can give it to you."  
The man spat again. Mal looked down at the brown goo, "You wanna stop doin' that on my ship?"  
"There's a problem with the whole payment thing. See, we're going to take this and leave."  
"Just as long as I get my money."  
"Didn't I just tell you there's a problem with the payment?" He spat right next to Mal's shoe.  
"Can't say I didn't warn you."  
Mal kicked the man in the stomach, pulling his pistol from its holster with one smooth motion. He shot the spitter in the shoulder, throwing him to the ground.  
Jayne gave a big smile, "A fair fight!" His shotgun roared, spinning one of the thugs to the side. Zoe shot another in the arm.

The last man threw his arms up in the air, dropping his weapon to the ground. "Looks like there was a mix-up with the payments. I just found yours." He gave a sheepish laugh.  
Mal dropped his pistol back into its holster. "I'll bet you did."  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Mal kept Serenity docked to the space station for an extra day, refueling the ship and selling some of the extra medicine Zoe had procured. He had been paid extra for "complications." Mal knew it was because he hadn't killed any of them. A sudden flurry of Alliance radio activity worried him, and he was planning on taking off as soon as Simon returned from the station medical sector. Simon was the only one who actually knew how much the medicines cost, so Mal had put him in charge of selling it.  
Mal had closed Serenity's cargo bay door. Simon was going to radio in when he had reached the dock point. The sudden noise of the cargo bay opening made him jump a little. He stood up and walked to the catwalk, keeping his steps quiet to reserve some kind of stealth. Zoe climbed out of her bunk as he passed. "I heard it too."  
Mal drew his pistol, creeping down the stairs to the catwalk. The door controls were vacant, the inner airlock door still shut. The outer door was being slowly opened. Mal ran down to the cargo bay floor, knowing that fighting from the catwalk was a bad idea. He activated the comm box, "Jayne someone's coming in the ship."  
XXXXXXXXXX  
"Think it's those guys we saw shot up before?" Zoe had her half-rifle out.  
"They looked pretty scared to me, they might have gotten some of their friends, but I didn't think they had it in them." Mal had a light assault rifle in his hands.

"Jayne are you cheating on Vera?"  
Jayne had an enormous mini-gun, larger than the gun he used on Miranda. "Nah, I just thought I'd give my baby a break. She works too hard, its heartbreakin'." Big guns and women, occasionally the same thing for Jayne.  
The door had finally finished opening. Mal walked to the window on the inner door. "Wo de tian a! We got a problem here!"  
A massive Alliance force was waiting on the other side of the door.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Mal's breath caught in his throat as he looked out at the massive numbers of infantry assembled against him.

Jayne looked through the other window, "Now that ain't a fair fight."

Zoe walked back to the comm. box, hoping to call up River for some fight support. The comm. box boomed a commanding voice before she could reach it.

"You have something we want." The voice echoed through Serenity. "James, it's time for you and River to come home."

Mal walked over to the comm. box, hoping it would reach the man outside his door. "And who might you be? I don't take kindly to people stompin' on board my ship."

"I'm with the Alliance, and I believe you have two things that belong to us."

"You can't own people you bastard."

The door started to groan as it was forced open.

Mal, Zoe and Jayne all backed away from the door, finding cover behind some of the crates that always cluttered Serenity's cargo bay.

"Sir, it was nice knowing you."  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Miles heard, the door opening, and turned to River. She tilted her head for a moment. "Lots of them."

Miles nodded and stood up, looking for something that was shaped well enough to be a melee weapon.

River shook her head, "Jayne's room."

Miles nodded and they went to Jayne's room together.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Mal shook his head. "Zoe, we're gonna live through this. You wanna know why? We are just too pretty to die."

Zoe smiled.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Miles walked out of Jayne's room weighing 150 pounds with all of his gear. He had walked in weighing 125. River followed closely behind him.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
The door had finished opening, the mechanism giving one final squeak of protest. Kaylee had joined Mal Zoe and Jayne in the cargo bay, and was holding a pistol that dwarfed her hand. She gave a shuddering breath. "Cap I don't think I can do this."

"Hey, Kaylee, this is just like Serenity."

"It is?"

"Serenity is named after Serenity Valley. We did the impossible there, we can do it here."

"I did not need to hear you call this impossible."  
XXXXXXXXXX  
A pair of boots stomped up the walkway into Serenity. The booming voice Mal had heard on the comm. called out to him.

"Captain, you don't want to make this hard on me."  


"Don't make this hard on yourself."

The man stopped, holding his pistol at his side. "It doesn't matter what you do. We have you stuck."

A sudden shout stopped him from continuing. "I know you!" Miles stood in the doorway holding a double barreled shotgun, and covered with weapons. River stood behind him, holding a pair of pistols.

"Who the hell is he then?" Mal still sat in cover.

Miles laughed and started to sing. "My memory is gone, gone down the drain. They did it wrong, embrace the pain." The last words came out as an angry shout as he started running towards the man. River ran right beside him, a look of clarity on her face.

The man turned and ran, disappearing in the swell of troops. The troops started to fire non-lethal blasts. Miles jumped on a large crate, kicking off as he grabbed a chain hanging from the ceiling. He swung to the catwalk, running on the railing. A mighty leap sent him flying through the air, straight toward the middle of the troops.

River had ducked behind a box, the non-lethal blasts passing overhead. She smoothly dived from the box to another crate, firing off a slew of bullets. Cheap armor crumpled as bullets ripped easily through the front line of men.

Miles landed on the ground just after River's volley reached the soldiers. He squeezed the trigger of the shotgun, tearing flesh off his unlucky victim. He swung the empty shotgun with his right hand, backhanding a soldier next to him. His next move brought a pistol swinging into one hand and a large knife into his other. Aiming wasn't necessary at this point, he could shoot in any direction and hit a soldier. Miles aimed the pistol anyway, tearing through the head of his closest foe. He used his small size to attack the enemies with the knife from below, thrusting upwards towards the face and neck.

River leaped into the pile, sending several soldiers staggering off balance. She quickly fired a bullet into each of their heads, back flipping over another soldier to fire a pistol directly in his face. A short kick snapped the leg of another soldier, his gun firing randomly into the crowd of soldiers. The bottom of her pistol chopped into another man's neck, dropping him easily to the ground. Her other hand continued to fire, bringing down soldier after soldier. She dropped into a crouch as an enemy fired at her, feeling the bullets strike his companion. Her right hand pistol dealt with the shooter, while the left hand downed an enemy about to shoot Miles.

Miles fired the pistol repeatedly, bringing down a new target each time. His knife danced back and forth between the weak spots in the soldiers' armor. Blood flew through the air with a slash of his knife. His launched his foot behind him, catching a soldier in the face as he fired his pistol into another soldier standing in front of him. He rolled under a clumsy kick, smashing the soldier in the face with the pommel of his knife. Miles fought close to River, their combined assault keeping the enemies from fully surrounding them.

River's weapons barked repeatedly. She threw both empty pistols at a soldier as she drew a single machine pistol. She finally noticed that Mal and the others had been picking off soldiers at the edge of the fray. A shotgun thundered next to her head as she danced out of the man's fire, sending three bullets home into his neck. Her fighting turned into a dance, her steps fluid and purposeful. She avoided the aim of several other soldiers as she dispatched each soldier one at a time. Her movements were not fast but steady as she anticipated everything around her, dropping enemies with precision and grace.

Miles had dropped his pistol in favor of a large revolver that he only fired when he was too far away to dispatch an enemy with his knife or a deadly punch or kick. Miles' style of fighting was simpler than River's, but nearly as deadly. He moved with short, vicious movements, each movement blocking a fist or lashing out to a soft spot. Where River was a dancer, he was a brawler. His reading abilities were jump compared to River's, so his fighting technique depended on his ability to create his own cover with enemies, and his limited sense of emotion. His revolver clamored each time an enemy took aim at him and he was unable to find cover, keeping some soldiers from shooting at all. His revolver touched the bottom of an enemy's chin, and roared one last time. Miles threw it at a soldier who raising his rifle, spoiling the shot. His knife whirred through the air taking the shooter in the heart. Miles' hands darted to his last weapon, a submachine gun. He wielded it one handed as he dispatched another soldier with a spinning strike, the bottom of his hand settling into a nerve on the man's neck. He saw the man who had broadcast on the comm. box, obviously the commander of the troops. Miles' submachine gun chattered as it filled the man's leg with lead.

The mob of soldiers had been reduced to a mere few, which River dealt with efficiently as Miles slowly stalked the commander. The commander tried to crawl away. Miles kicked the man, rolling him face up on the ground.

Miles crouched, pushing the man down to the ground, "Now you I have seen before."

The man was terrified, "Please, just let me go. I'll leave you alone from now on. I've got connections up there."

Miles smiled, "No you don't. You are just a little pawn. I know you, I remember you. You were at my operation. I've had a dream, my only memory so far."

"I...I didn't mean..."

"Oh, but you did. Don't you remember? 'It's not like he's human' you said."

Miles stood up. He started to sing again, soft and mournful this time. "My memory is gone, gone down the drain. They did it wrong, embrace the pain."

The man sobbed, "Your surgery failed, we made a wrong cut. You seemed fine at first, but we didn't want to risk losing you in another brain surgery, so we decided not to finish you. They tell me that you lost your memory when they tried to give you a new drug. It stimulated the old cut. We were transporting you to another facility when you escaped, nearly mindless. That's when you got on board the Firefly. Your memory won't come back, you won't remember being James."

"I only need to be able to remember being Miles."

"You will, you will! Listen, I know how you can stop the Alliance from sending more troops and such. Cut the power at the Academy. You'll set all of the other inmates free if their neural inhibitors don't work. Please, just let me go, you can't kill in cold blood."

"I could if I wasn't human." His hand reached down to the man, pressing a nerve on his neck and knocking him out.

Red turned to blue.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Simon turned the corner to see Miles throw an Alliance officer on the ground. Bodies littered the ground near the entrance to Serenity. There were no other people around, the whole sector had been cleared, and the Alliance must have evacuated it of people before they arrived.

The submachine gun slipped from Miles' grasp as River walked over. She gave him a hug, he hugged back. They held the embrace for a long time. Simon picked his way around Alliance soldiers who had fallen. There were groans from wounded soldiers on the ground. Simon knelt at each one, fixing what he could. The next time he looked up Mal had brought the two back inside Serenity.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Help very late in coming, so Mal had the wounded laid out on the ground next to each other, the dead cleared of their way. It was up to Mal and Jayne to do all of the heavy lifting, while Simon tended the wounded and made them as comfortable as possible. The commander was left where he had fallen, his only injury a bullet wound in his leg. The second that hospital personnel on the station had showed up he closed up Serenity and high tailed out.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Serenity was on its way, taking a course that left it well outside of any known Alliance ship, big or small. Simon already knew the coordinates of the Academy from his old rescue of River, but Mal wasn't ready to just charge in to a secure government facility.

"We'll get there in time; we have to think of a plan first."

First up on the plan was to get schematics of the Academy. Mal needed to know exactly where everything was, especially where security was tight. The schematics would also show where the power supply was.

Simon mentioned his old connections, the group that managed to help free River. If they had the schematics then, they would probably have them now. Simon managed to rustle up the contact, paying some money to get his hands on the schematics. They weren't perfect, but they covered most of the building well enough.

Mal set the ship on course for a moon far out on the rim, so the Serenity could get some peace and quiet before going to the Academy.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
River and Miles managed to find some quiet on the catwalk, sitting back to back. "That man is going to come back isn't he." Miles gave a long breath.

River could tell who he was talking about without even looking in his head. "The commander."

"Yeah. He could ruin our plan. What if the plan fails because I let him live? But...How would I be human if didn't let him live?"

"Maybe we aren't meant to be human."

"But you and I are human Riv, we're just a little different."

River turned, spinning Miles around. She kissed him full on the lips. He seemed surprised for an instant, but fell into it nearly instantaneously. The kiss lasted forever but was still too short. They broke apart after some time, their foreheads touching.

River whispered, "It's nice being human."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Aunt K? Tell me a story." Miles had returned to the engine room, doing work that didn't need to be done. The engine was in tip-top shape.

Kaylee had busied herself with work as well, just keeping herself occupied while the ship was resting on the moon. She spent most of her time with Simon, the rest just trying to find something to do around the ship. "Well, Miles, I can tell you the story of the scariest moment of my life."

"When was that?"

"One time we attacked a space station where this crazy man named Niska. I was stuck defending Serenity alone from three men. River came along and killed all three with one shot each. Without looking."

"Aunt K we can't help it. They made us this way. Well, especially her."

"I know, it's just that I can't stand fighting. There's always another way to solve things. River scared me worse than I thought possible."

"Aunt K one time I was tied to a stake after being accused a witch. All I did was tell the truth. Sometimes people don't let you do things another way."

"Miles...that was River tied to a stake, not you."

Miles looked down, sadness in his eyes. "Oh. It's just that...sometimes I want memories so bad..."

"Don't worry about it Miles, you are already making memories with us right now. Like this."

"Like what Aunt K?"

"Just you and me working together in the engine room. These are memories that count."

Something in Miles' hands made a sparking noise. "Uh oh."

"What is...oh boy. That's okay though, gives us something to work on. Our own little project."

"Good idea Aunt K. I'll get the socket tool."

Kaylee sighed. _It's like he's still a kid, but I've seen what he can do. I feel bad for him._  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Kaylee finished repairing the part, Miles hovering over her shoulder. He had done what he could, but 

his skills were sorely lacking despite his natural talent for the job.

"All better Moonshine. Put it back in place."

"Okay Aunt K. What now?"

"Now we find something else to do. I need to spend some time with Simon. Go check the cargo bay, they might be playing hoop ball or horseshoes."

"Thanks Aunt K." Miles bounded out of the room, headed towards the cargo bay.

Kaylee sighed.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
"I don't want to go back!" River was wild.

"Don't worry River; we're going to finish this when we get there. We won't have to worry about the Academy any more. If all of those readers get out, we'll just be a tiny blip on the radar. They'll have to stop putting up those advertisements to keep the escapees from hurting anyone, they won't send anyone after us, and we might even be able to keep some of them safe, set them up on a border moon." Simon was trying to console her, keep her from having another episode.

"I don't care Simon; you don't know what goes on there. I don't want to go back." She had started to cry. "I just want to be left alone."

"And that can happen if we just finish this. Don't worry about it River, we are going to stay here for however long we need. We're not going anywhere for a while."

"I don't want to go back Simon."

"Let's not worry about it for now, we can think about it later." Simon closed the door behind him as he left her room._ That's going to be a problem.  
_XXXXXXXXXX  
"So how do you play the game?"

Mal held up a horseshoe. "You throw this on a stick."

"That's it?"

"It's better than it looks. Actually, not really. But it's better than doing nothing."

"Maybe I'll get River to teach me how to pilot Serenity."

Mal tossed a horseshoe, "How are you going to do that? Serenity's on the ground."

"I don't know, she'll just show me the controls and stuff. It can't be that hard."

Jayne took a toss, "Ha, that's the understatement of the year. You ever heard of a Crazy Ivan?"

Mal tossed his last horseshoe, "Good old Wash."  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Miles entered the bridge. He had only been in it a few times, mostly during landings, when there wasn't anything better to do. He looked over the pilot's station. A few plastic dinosaurs graced the panel next to the scanner. _Good old Wash. _Miles didn't know Wash, just knew about him. From what he had heard Wash was the best pilot in the 'verse, and the best man that every single member of the crew had ever met. Miles could feel River's presence in the hallway behind him.

She entered the room, her bare feet silent. "It's true what they say about Wash, I think he could beat anyone and everyone at his job."

"I wish I knew him."

River walked forward and picked up one of the small dinosaurs. "I was there when he died. I felt him die. It's all my fault. Him, Sheppard Book, everything. I brought all of this on them. Wash and Book would be alive, Serenity wouldn't have been running away from the Alliance with two fugitives on board. Everything would have been fine if I was still in the Academy, if Simon hadn't rescued me." Tears splashed on the dinosaur.

Miles lent his shoulder to River, her tears seeping through to his bare skin. "Wash's death wasn't your fault. Blame the Alliance. I may have no memory, but I have been around long enough to learn that the Alliance created the Reavers. It's their fault, not yours. Wash, Book, everything. I wasn't there, but I know that this 'verse is a better place with you on Serenity, not stuck in the Academy. Everyone on this ship would agree with me, including Jayne." He wrapped her in a hug.

Miles stood with her for several minutes, her color slowly shifting from the gray of sorrow to a natural blue calm. She looked up at his face, her eyes slightly red rimmed. Zoe's gonna get better too?"

"I'm sure Zoe's going to be fine, just give it time. Heck I lost my memory and look at how happy you made me in such a short time."

Mal stepped away from the comm. box where he had listened in on the conversation. At first he was just checking in on the bridge to see who was there, but talk about Wash had kept him. Zoe stood behind him, tall and strong. She had been holding back tears, but a wide smile graced her face.

"That kid is gonna go places in life if he doesn't have any more attacks Zoe."  


"Do you think that is ever going to happen sir?"

"Maybe, maybe not. You never know."  
XXXXXXXXXX  
The crew gathered for breakfast the next morning.

"Where's Moonbrain at?" Jayne took a huge bite of oatmeal.

"Probably still in his room. Should we check on him?" Mal finished buttering his toast.

River looked to the door, "He's coming up now."

Miles' steps could be heard coming up the ladder. A few seconds after they stopped he appeared in the doorway. "I think it happened again." Blood was smeared all down Miles' face, a wet red sheen reflecting off his forehead. He held up his hands, both covered in blood. He started to fall forward, his eyes unfocused. Jayne spun out of his chair, catching Miles before he hit the ground. "Gorramn it kid!"  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Simon led Jayne down to the infirmary, preparing some bandages that would cover the wound. Jayne lay Miles out on the bed, looking up a Simon. "Why's he doin' this again?"

"Must have had that dream again." Simon started cleaning the blood away from the wound. The gashes had stopped bleeding for the most part, but the spilt blood was drying, something that Simon didn't want to have to deal with later.

"At least Moonbrain didn't go an' throw up all over herself like last time."

Miles groaned, looking around the infirmary. He saw Simon and Jayne. "Hey Doc." He tried to sit up.

"Miles you stay down, you lost a lot of blood."

"This nightmare was nice."

"Wait...what?" Jayne's face was twisted in confusion.

"I had the operation dream again, but it changed to something else. I was in a little cell, they had some kind of box on my head and I was strapped into a chair. I saw you Simon, you and River went by the little window in the door. You were getting out. I knew you wouldn't rescue me, and I didn't want you to. I hadn't done anything to deserve it."

"Miles no one deserves to be in the Academy, except the people who run it. They should be the ones with scalpel marks on their brains."  


"It's just that...River had something to look forward to and I had nothing. I'm glad you got her out."

"You just get some rest, we'll have you back up and around soon."

Miles drifted into a sleep that did little to make him any less tired.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Miles managed to get on his feet without feeling woozy at the end of the day. The first thing that he did was go to the bathroom. Simon had been nearly drowning him in fluids to get his blood level back up, but it wasn't the most comfortable thing when you couldn't stand up to go to the bathroom.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Giving a sigh of relief, Miles stepped out of the bathroom. His stomach groaned from all the sudden movement he was making. Not only was it still full of water and some kind of medical drink, Simon had stuffed him fuller than a turkey with twice as much food as he had ever eaten.

He shuffled to his room, passing the ladder he had climbed earlier. Blood was still caked on each wrung. Miles opened the door to his room, collapsing on the bed without even attempting to shut the door. He scratched right below the bandage on his forehead before drifting off to sleep.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Miles woke with a start.

"You were about to dream again."

Miles dragged his face out of his pillow, turning face up. River stood in the doorway, framed by the lights that provided dim illumination to the hallways. She was wearing some kind of dress, probably a nightgown. "I didn't want to see another nightmare again."

"You mean...you've watched my nightmares?"

"They did open brain surgery on you without any painkillers. I watched them do it twice. The second time wasn't as bad, I managed to avoid the worst part of the dream."

Miles blinked his eyes, "Why?"

River nodded as his thought added to the question. _Why are you here?_ "I don't want you to be alone when they do the surgery again."

Miles shook his head. "My pain, not yours. Block me out."__

"Don't care." River climbed onto Miles bed, curling up next to his side.

They didn't talk for a minute. "Thanks Riv."  


A few minutes later River's breathing had fallen into a steady rhythm. Miles' slowed down to match it before he finally dropped off.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Miles woke up the next morning, still wearing the slightly bloody clothing from yesterday. River's head lay on his arm, her hair spread across it. He wiped his face with his free hand, looking up at the ceiling.

River stirred next to him. "No dreams."

"Yeah, no dreams."  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Miles had finally taken a refreshing shower. He had slept well, no nightmares, nothing teasing him with memories. He wandered into the cargo bay, taking the long way to the dining room. Jayne was pressing a bar, enormous weights on each end. He easily finished fifteen, sliding the bar back onto its stand. "Hey Moonshine, wanna give it a go?"

Miles looked at the intimidating weights hanging on the bar. "No thanks, I'll stick to pushups or something."

"Pick your poison little man. Just get it done."

"Will do Jayne."

"Nightmares last night?" Jayne had pulled out a pair of smaller dumbbells, swinging them up to his chest.

"No."

"I saw River leave her room. I should hope for Simon's sake, and yours, that nothing happened."

"She...she stopped the nightmares."

"An' nothing more?"

"No."

"Good, kid, good."  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Miles walked into the dining room, finding Zoe and Kaylee already there.

"Hey Miles, have a good night of sleep?" Kaylee started to giggle.

"Wha...Who doesn't know?"

"Don't worry Miles, I know you. Besides, River is smart enough to take care of herself, at least most of the time."

Zoe opened up the micro oven. Miles said on instinct, "Thirty seconds more Zoe." Zoe closed the micro oven again.

"Thanks Kaylee. And you too Zoe. So...what now?"

"We'll tell Mal, don't worry about it though, he'll understand."  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Mal went through his plan one last time, making sure that everything was set, foolproof. Or at least as foolproof as Mal's plans got.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
"Okay crew, this plan is actually pretty simple. All we have to do is hit the power, open the door, and find the comm. system for the building. The power station is relatively near one of the control panels, so things shouldn't be too hard. Cutting the power will bring the neural restraints on the patients down. We can open the doors and direct the inmates to leave through the front entrance, they will be able deal with security on the way if River and Miles have taught us anything. I'm going to set up a deal with someone from the news media. Once those inmates hit sunlight the media will be all over it. People are going to have a field day on this one. The Alliance will have to shut down the Academy, and will probably pretend like they had nothing to do with it. They won't be able to do anything to those inmates once this gets out, and that includes you two." Mal pointed at Miles and River.

"You know, sir, this plan actually sounds pretty good."

"Zoe, I'm offended. When have my plans ever not worked."

"Sir I don't think we have the time to go over all of the plans of yours that didn't go well."

"Hey, we always got paid, right? That's always good plan."

Jayne spoke up this time, "How're we gonna get in?"

Mal's face brightened. "That's the best part of my plan! It's quite simple, we go in exactly the same way that Simon brought River out."

"Remind me again how this is your plan?"

"Very funny Kaylee. If we can't get in that way, there's an air shaft that is pretty close to both of our objectives."  


"So you're telling me..."

"What is it Jayne?"

"So you're telling me that you actually came up with a well thought out plan?"

Mal's put an injured look on his face, "It's not that weird. Wo de tian a! I never thought people would hate me so much for coming up with a good plan."

"Wait, wait, so there's a chance that no-one's going to get shot on this plan?"

Mal's face redoubled his injured look. "Why does nobody love me? Alright, I'll admit, some of my other plans involved a lot of bullets, but why is it so weird that my plan involves such little shooting?"

"Maybe it's because your plans always involve shooting, and it's usually us getting shot, sir." Zoe had a sarcastic face on.

"Well maybe next time I won't share my beautiful plan with you. Anyways, we'll stay here for a day or two while I work out an anonymous contact with the media."

"Well if I'm takin' part of a plan, I better know its name."

"Jayne what the hell are you talking about? What name?"

"You know, the name of the plan. Like Operation Wooden Spoon or something. Only make the name awesome, plans don't fail if they sound awesome. Like Operation Awesome."

"Okay...how about Operation Emancipation."

"I like it. I vote best plan ever."

"Jayne shouldn't we wait until we finish with the plan before we..."

"Mal, I told you, it's got a good name so it can't fail."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Serenity was humming through space. Mal had started for the Academy already, hoping to get a look at the security the Alliance had stationed there before they went in. The media had promised that they would show up, Mal's plan was actually working so far.

Miles was trying his hand at horseshoes in the cargo bay. He had taken the bandages off his head already; the salve worked into them had sped up the healing process, leaving some light scars that would fade with time. Mal came down and started to play horseshoes with Miles. The trip would take some time, and there was time to be wasted.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Simon was sitting with River, hoping that his presence would keep her from reacting badly to their return to the academy. She had taken the news badly, but had settled down since then. Simon hated to see her discomfort, and the dread would only grow over time.

"It's okay River, you don't even have to go inside, you can stay here with me and Kaylee."

River hugged her knees. "What if they catch us Simon? What happens to me and Miles?"

"They aren't going to catch us River, Mal made a plan."

"I don't wanna go back Simon."

"You don't have to, you can stay on the ship. If anything goes wrong you'll be safe."

"I don't wanna go back Simon."

"It's okay River, it's okay..."  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Miles did not mind going back to the Academy. He had no memory of the place other than his nightmare, which simply made him angry.

His horseshoe clattered to one side of the post. He wasn't very good at it, but he had only been playing for a short time.

Mal stepped up to take his throw. A loud clang announced his success.

"So are you coming in there with us Miles? I know River hates that place and probably won't even step foot in there."

Miles shrugged, "I don't remember anything about it, so I don't know."

"What about your nightmares?"

"All they do is make me mad." Miles' horseshoe clattered just to the side of the post.

"Well if we distract the Alliance and then get in and out quickly then we should get away scot-free."

"That would be nice."

"It's all goin' to work out." Mal's horseshoe hit the post and spun around. "You'll see."  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Kaylee sat with Simon in the engine room, staving off boredom by fixing an old engine part that wasn't needed anymore.

Simon wrapped his arm around her, hugging her close. "I hope we're ready for this."

"Oh we'll do fine, I'm sure this will all work out in the end."

"I just don't want to hurt River. She's still vulnerable. I trust that Miles will be okay, his brain wasn't tampered with half as much as River's, though from what I hear of his nightmare it was a lot more painful than hers."

"Yeah, sometimes he acts like a kid, but sometimes it's like he's older than I am. I hope he learns to cope with this 'verse after we finish with this."

Simon stroked Kaylee's hair. "I just hope that we all get out of this okay."  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Jayne finished cleaning his guns, each and every one shining and ready for action. He had saved Vera for last, murmuring to it softly as he gently checked each part.

"Hey babe, just checkin' in on you. Gotta keep you all nice and shiny. You are one fine lookin' number, I'd go out with you in a second if you weren't already my woman."

Zoe, passing by, shook her head. "Feng le."  
XXXXXXXXXX  
A game of hoop ball started in the cargo bay when Mal had finally grown tired of horseshoes and went to the dining room.

Jayne slung the ball across to Kaylee, who tossed the ball toward the hoop. Her shot bounced off the rim, right into Simon's hands. Simon slung the ball to Miles, who attempted to shoot the ball. Jayne's heavy arm batted the shot away, bouncing it off the wall and back into play. Simon went to pick the ball up, only to be tackled by Kaylee, who wrapped her arms around his torso to keep him from grabbing the 

ball. Miles darted in, snatching the ball and turning to the hoop. The hoop had twisted to a ninety degree angle, so Miles started to run around Simon and Kaylee. Simon fell down, his balance bogged down by Kaylee's weight. He fell directly in Miles path, bringing Kaylee down as well. Miles tripped over Simon's body, dropping the ball to land on his hands. Jayne picked the ball up, giving it an easy toss through the hoop.

"Smooth move little man."

Miles stood up, dusting his hands off. "You're just jealous because we beat you last time."

Jayne looked up to the catwalk, where River had walked up. "You wanna play Moonbrain?"

"Kaylee and Simon are about to leave."

Jayne laughed, "Peekin' again River?"

"Just one of those things that you pick up."

Simon looked at Kaylee, "Well I have to go organize a few supplies, I don't know what you have to do."

Kaylee beamed, "I have to follow you around and keep you company." She grabbed Simon's arm and linked hers with his and bounced to through the door.

Jayne turned to Miles. "I'm doin' some weights then."

"I might do some pushups or something."

"Just get it done Moonshine."  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Miles was more tired than he had ever been. Jayne had been pushing him in his exercise, shouting out for Miles to do more and more. Jayne had been yelling all this while doing his own workout, benching huge weights with ease. Miles went through push ups, crunches, pull-ups, more push ups, and wall sits for more than an hour.

He took a shower and went to dinner. Kaylee and Simon were talking about funny between themselves, which no-one else seemed to get River. Mal was talking to Zoe about some kind of business deal they made in Persephone once. Jayne was eating, and still coaching Miles.

"Eat up little man, get some protein in ya. Always important after you do a workout."

Miles nodded, hungry enough that Jayne's coaching was irrelevant.

"You did good today kid, you lasted pretty long."

"I think I'm regretting it now."

"Aw, you'll get used to it. You're gonna be sore tomorrow though."  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Miles wandered downstairs after dinner, collapsing on the couch in front of the infirmary. His eyes were already drooping, his body exhausted from the workout. River sat down next to him. "No more nightmares."

"I'm too tired for nightmares."

"No one is ever too tired for nightmares."

"That a fact?"

"No."

Miles leaned his head back, stretching his legs out into a more comfortable position. His eyelids slowly dropped, his entire body relaxing as he drifted to sleep.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Miles woke up drearily. He wiped his eyes, clearing them. He stood up, noticing that his muscles didn't hurt at all.

His eyes widened as he took in his surroundings. He was standing in what looked like a huge gymnasium based on the look of the ceiling, but Miles was surrounded by wooden hallways whose walls extended up 20 feet, not to the ceiling. He walked down a short corridor, turning a corner into another hallway.

A man with a huge assault rifle was crouched behind a pair of tall barrels. Miles rolled forward, hoping to leap out of the way of the man's shot. As he sprang back to his feet, he noticed that the man hadn't even turned or made an attempt to follow Miles' path. Miles could not determine the man's emotions. There was no color coming from him, a first for Miles.

"Hey, buddy." Miles kept on his toes, ready to leap away from the man's shot if he made one.

The man didn't respond to that, either. Miles walked forward, trying to pull on the man's shirt. His 

hand wouldn't even reach close enough to touch the man, stopped as if by some kind of force field. Miles' shouted at the man, "Hey, guy, what the xiongmao niao is going on here?"

The man still didn't respond. Miles decided to keep walking down the hallway, hoping things would be explained to him later.

A sudden shout caused him to turn around. The man had been thrown across the hallway, sliding down to the ground unconscious. Miles flashed into a fighting stance, his whole body ready to move. Whoever had thrown the man was standing up behind the barrels. Miles finally got a good look at the attackers face. "River?"

River made no sign of acknowledgement, walking around the barrel and approaching Miles. She was wearing some kind of hospital dress. Miles started to run back to her, calling out to her. "River? What the heck is going on?"

A sudden click made her jump back, but not fast enough. She was clipped as some kind of trap sprung out of the wooden wall, launching a huge bag across the hallway. River was thrown to the ground, loosing a scream. Miles sprinted to her, wary of the trap. He tried to pick her up, but his hands couldn't get near her, just like the man.

A sudden thought hit him, and he knew it immediately to be true. _A nightmare, but not one of mine._

Miles stood up and turned as the sound of footsteps approached him. A man in a business suit was walking down the hallway, flanked by a pair of men wearing blue gloves. River stood  
up, stepping gingerly on the leg that had been hit by the trap.

"Oh dear, it seems that you made a mistake. You probably should have been more aware. That man knew about the trap, if you had only done a complete read you would have known." The man was disgustingly cocky.

River gave a growl, more animal than human. She slowly started to back away as the man approached. Once he got within fifteen feet she leapt forward on her good leg, striking for his throat. The Blue Hands intercepted, easily wrestling the injured River to the ground.

"We expected you to do better inmate. These tests aren't for fun, you know. So do you know what I'm going to do?" The man reached inside his jacket. "I'm going to make sure that you don't forget this little lesson."

The man drew his hand out of his jacket, pulling a huge knife out. The Blue Hands pinned River to the ground. The man started to make long, deep cuts in her leg, blood spilling out. River screamed, a high pitched ear splitting scream.

"There there little inmate, it will be over soon. Let me teach you a song I made up for these assistants I have. It's not actually a song, only one line, really, but I quite like it." The man continued to make long cuts, switching over to River's other leg.

"I think I'm going to make up the rest of the words later, but it goes a little something like this." The man hummed a note before singing one line. "_Two by two, hands of blue._ I expect that will be the chorus."

River's screaming intensified. Miles looked, horrified, at the blood welling out of her legs.

"Now now little inmate, it's over." The man stood, looking down at River. "Time to go back to your cell. Eta kuram na smekh."

Miles expected to keel over, but only River fell unconscious this time. Miles' sight faded to black.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Miles awoke with a bellow. River was curled up next to him, crying in her sleep.

Miles jumped to his feet, River sliding down on the couch. He slammed his hand on the small table in front of him, splintering one of the legs from the shock of impact. His back leg rocketed him forward, his fist beating one solid blow against the metal wall. Blood seeped from his knuckles as he loosed a scream. He fell to his knees, crying as he fell. His hands were molten red, glowing with anger. Miles beat his fist against the ground, tears falling from his face to join the bloody mark his fist left on the floor.

Jayne appeared out of his room, his mouth wide open at Miles' display. Mal skidded down the stairs soon after, catching his breath as he looked over the scene.

Miles growled, standing as blood dripped from his knuckles. "I will become Death, the destroyer of worlds."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Miles looked up at Mal, his voiced backed by rage. "I will kill that man."

"What are you talkin' about Miles? What man?"

"The man that cut River. In her dream, that man cut her."

"I'm guessing it's one of those things you can't really explain. Miles calm down for now. There's nothing you can do about it now, we're on our way to finish this."

Red turned, slowly, to blue.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Mal ran his hand over his hair. He had pulled Serenity in close to the planet that hosted the Academy. Mal had been there a few times before, but had never guessed that anything like the Academy existed on it. River sat in the co-pilot's seat, more than a little twitchy and nervous. They had been waiting for several hours now for the media contact to wave them. Mal tried hard to keep his mind off of bad outcomes, knowing that River would probably read it at some point. Zoe stood over his shoulder, coming and going every once in a while to prepare for the battle. _Jayne was cleaning his guns, again. Kaylee was probably working on something that didn't need to be fixed. Simon was probably with her, waiting until someone was shot. Miles...Who knows where Miles is.  
_XXXXXXXXXX  
Miles sat in his room, preparing for the job. Miles didn't expect to come back alive. _I will hunt that man if he is in there._ _I made a promise I intend to keep._

He spread his small arsenal on his bed. It consisted of one fire-arm, a pistol with a few clips of ammo, a wrench, and a long metal pole. He shoved the gun in his pocket, the clips in the other. He hooked the wrench to his belt loop. Duct tape kept the metal pole on his back, the jury-rigged harness thin enough to be able to rip off with ease, but strong enough to avoid hindering his movements.

He walked out of his room, the wrench beating a comforting rhythm on his thigh. Mal was getting the Crybaby ready in the cargo bay, a device that they had used before to good effect. Hopefully the Crybaby would distract air security for a while, long enough for the crew to cut the main power and open the doors to all the cells with the auxiliary power.

Jayne was preparing the lift that would bring them down. The rig was small; it would take two trips to bring down Jayne, Zoe, Mal, and Miles.

Miles had nothing to do except wait. He wandered up to the bridge, finding River taking the Serenity.

"You doing okay Riv?

"I'm shiny Miles, I still don't want you to go in there though." River seemed to realize that this was a necessary operation, and that innocents depended on Serenity.

Miles stood behind her, running his hand over his wrench. The view through the front window was breathtaking. The planet lay below them, Serenity approaching from the dark side, a wide cut of lit land visible at the edge of their view. Thin beams of sunlight pierced the planets edge, shining into Serenity. "Don't worry River, once this is over we'll be able to walk away. Well, we may still be fugitives, but we won't need to ever worry about the Academy again. I just wish that this would clear us, but if Mal gives the Serenity's name up the Alliance may just take us down. Disappear us. But we gotta do this Riv, you wanna know why?"

"I already know."

Miles smiled, glad their connection wasn't strained from fear. _Because we're human._  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Mal dropped the Crybaby in the airlock, closing the door after himself. The ship had stopped so that the Crybaby could be deployed correctly. Mal pressed the airlock release, watching the Crybaby drift away from the ship, small stabilizers slowing the device before bringing it to a complete stop. The outer airlock door closed, tearing Mal's gaze from the deep black of outer space.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Serenity approached the planet's atmosphere, the huge globe looming in front of Serenity. Lights of a city could be seen below, the day fast approaching them. Serenity was angled towards the daylight portion of the planet, the Academy isolated from civilization.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Hot flames licked the front of Serenity. Miles stared out the window, leaving his hand on the head of River's chair. River flipped some switches as the planet broke into the atmosphere, the flames dying as fast as they had arrived. A drag of gravity announced the deceleration of Serenity. Miles leaned over River's chair, burying his face in her hair.

River shook her head. "You'll come out alive Miles, don't be thinking like that."

"I don't know, I just don't want to make a big mistake and end up never coming back to Serenity at all."

River shook a little as the ground approached. Miles could feel her nerves, she wasn't happy about being this near to the Academy.

He left River as Serenity leveled off, slowly walking to the cargo bay. His thoughts wandered, never staying in one place too long.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Mal watched Miles approach, trying to split his concentration between fixing the cradle that would take them down and the conditions of his crew members. His plan was coming to action as he pieced together how the whole thing would work.

_Crybaby distracts the Alliance security that might come check us out. The facility doesn't have any flying security or people nearby would notice. River brings the ship in, doesn't kill us all by flipping out, and we go down. We run down a hallway or two and shut down power. We then go to the security station, where we unlock all of the cells. The inmates run free, we tell them how to get out. Then we get to the pickup shaft, River pulls Serenity in, and we leave. Media doesn't film us cuz we're on the other side of the facility, we get the hell out of there._ _Media flips out, Blue Sun and Alliance fire whoever had anything to do with the Academy to save face. Just like they did after Miranda.  
_

Mal strode to the comm. panel, hoping that Simon would answer from the cockpit. He didn't want River to be alone or she might just do something berserk. "We close in yet?"

Simon's voice answered back, to Mal's relief, "We're coming close now."

Mal nodded, "Cry, baby, cry."

"Yes sir. We'll be there in ten minutes, but we'll wait for twenty maybe, just to make sure Alliance takes the bait."

Mal grinned. Instead of a crippled ship, the crybaby this time was running from Reavers, something that would definitely bring the Alliance's attention. "Okay, just tell us when you're going to move out." River's voice came in faintly through the speaker, "Twenty one minutes and fourteen seconds. 

Approximately."

Mal smiled, taking a seat on one of the cargo containers that always cluttered the Serenity's cargo bay. All there was to do now was wait.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Jayne adjusted one of his many holsters, each holding some kind of deadly weapon. He decided against Vera, instead choosing a repeating rifle much like a small minigun so he could provide covering fire in the hallways.

Zoe was playing around with a grenade, something that every member of the party was taking with the except for Miles.

Mal was leaning back on his crate, his eyes closed.

Miles shifted uneasily near the cradle, stretching out and trying to warm up his muscles. The small hallways would be a major problem if Miles was a long ways away from an enemy, but close in Miles could use them well against his, most likely, much larger opponents.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Gravity tugged at everyone. Serenity had started to move.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Simon's voice came in over the radio after a few minutes of traveling. "We're coming close now. Open the hatch."

Mal walked to the control panel, pressing one of the buttons. Everyone in the cargo bay moved in close to the open door in the floor, watching the ground blur past, a slightly sickening mix of brown and green.

Kaylee ran in, slowing down as she reached the control panel for the lift and doors. She nodded to Mal, who maneuvered the cradle over the opening. Jayne produced an acid solvent, handing it to Mal when the cradle had been positioned.

The ground below them slowed down, the green and brown turning into the gray of a roof. Mal and Zoe jumped onto the cradle, which rocked slightly at their movements.

"Do it captain." Simon's voice was calm, probably trying to keep River steady. Kaylee nodded, pressing the button. The cradle jerked once, and then started to descend. Miles leaned over the opening, 

watching the cradle as it lowered onto the roof. Mal hopped off, spraying the acid solvent around the grate that closed off the shaft Simon had used last time. Mal jumped back on the cradle as soon as the solvent was applied, not even waiting for the acid to do its work. A thumbs up from Zoe indicated that the shaft was open. The lift began its way into the shaft, straight into the building. It came back up ten seconds later, empty. Miles leapt up, Jayne clambering up after him, weighed down by his weapons.

The lift began its descent smoothly, Miles and Jayne looking out at the world around them. The Academy was much larger than Miles had realized. The mouth of the air shaft grew rapidly, swallowing Jayne and Miles quickly. The light of the entrance below drew closer. Jayne pressed a button as they reached it, the cradle shuddering to a halt. Miles hauled himself into the hallway beyond, Mal and Zoe waiting for him. Jayne tumbled through a few seconds later.

The hallway was clean. Mal pulled out a small device, which displayed a map of the facility. After a moment to gain his bearings, Mal pointed down the hallway. "Let's go, I don't want to be here any longer than we have to be."

Mal led the small group through a series of hallways. Security was extremely loose, they must not have even heard Serenity's arrival.

One security officer patrolled the hallways, whom Mal shot in the leg and disarmed.

The power station was just ahead, glowing with LED lights. Zoe ran forward, immediately going to work on the power. The lights flickered out for a full thirty seconds. Miles heard Jayne's heavy breathing and a low hum. The auxiliary lights snapped to life all at once, a few lights straggling behind their companions as they lit up. Miles vision readjusted, spots appearing in his vision.

Mal referred to his map again, turning to face the way that they came.

Miles felt a sudden flash of fear. He turned around, knowing all too well what his senses told him. "You guys go on ahead, I'll be with you shortly."

Mal stopped. "What are you talkin' about."

"Just keep going, I'll just be a little while before I meet up with you guys. I remember the way out."

Jayne spoke up, "We ain't goin' anywheres without ya Moonshine."

Miles just turned his back, facing the other way. "I just feel a little security coming our way, nothing to worry about."

Mal and the others started to jog toward the objective. Miles turned around, unslinging the pipe from his back, spinning it in his hands like a staff.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Mal sprinted toward the security point. The faster they opened the doors, the faster they could get out. Miles could deal with security guards, so Mal wasn't worried.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Miles spun the staff back and forth, waiting for his fate. _Two by two, hands of blue._  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Mal stopped at the security station, trying to stay calm as he looked over the controls. Time was wasting, the Alliance would be extra careful with the possibility of a Reaver attack, but they would return at some point. Zoe punched a button, a screen that Mal had overlooked powered to life. Mal input some commands, the computer refusing to act without a password. "Damn it, we can't access this thing."

Mal looked up. Zoe stood with the ID tag of one of the security guards in her hands. "You wanted something sir?"

"I may just kiss you right now Zoe, heck I'd kiss Jayne if he was holding that."

"Wuzzat? Ain't nobody kissin' me. Maybe afterwards I'll find someone, but right now it's not going to happen."

Zoe gently pushed Mal away from the computer screen, inserting the identity tag into the slot and inputting some commands. She was rewarded with a red alert message, reading ACCESS: ALL DOORS.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Miles squared off as his opponents finally turned into the hallway. The Blue Hands walked down the hallway in their calm yet unsettling way, enormous pools of black that sucked in the light around them. Miles turned around. Another pair approached from his back, the hallway behind them almost dimmed because of their cold, pitch dark auras.

A man led this pair, the only man without blue gloves. His presence was absent of color, but left a disgusting taste in Miles' mouth. "Why hello James, it's so nice to see you. Your friends may get away 

with this, but you certainly aren't."

Miles turned, his face growing stone cold as he realized who the man was. "It's you isn't it. You cut River."

"That I did, and I may have to cut you as well if you don't behave. Now come along nicely little inmate."

Miles turned inward, ignoring every word the man said. River's dream played over and over in his head, the long cuts of the knife igniting his rage. Miles could feel his rage reach out, his emotions touching those of the Blue Hands and the man. Red dominated his vision, boiling through his body leaving nothing but hate.

Miles lost control, the rage taking over. He gave a long roar, strings of saliva flying from his lips. The pipe whirred in his hands, the ends moving faster than the eyes could see.

Mal's voice appeared over the intercom system, but Miles could not hear it. The dull thump of his heart dominated Miles' hearing, the percussion of each beat guiding his movements.

The pools of black began to move, each rushing Miles, only in slow motion. Miles pushed off the ground with the pipe, launching his foot into the nearest black blob. The Blue Hand fell to the ground, the blow completely knocking the breath out of his body. Miles felt another Blue Hand diving for his body. The pipe circled around as Miles turned, cracking the Blue Hand in the face with a metallic clang.

One of the Blue Hands punched Miles in the nose. Miles thrust his hand into their abdomen, his fist turning as it found a vital point. He found his breath cut off as the one Blue Hand still standing began to choke Miles. Miles dropped the pipe, drawing his sidearm and shooting over his shoulder. The splash of hot blood rewarded his effort. Miles unhitched the wrench from his pants, wielding a weapon in each hand as he turned to face the Blue Hands who were scrambling to their feet. Miles shot one in the stomach, doubling the man over, though the bullet could not penetrate his armor. Two Blue Hands charged at once, the fist of one hitting fiercely in his gut, drawing the breath from Miles body, the other striking Miles in the nose again.

Miles was blown back several feet, struggling to regain his breath. One of the Blue Hands approached. Miles raised his gun and welcomed Fate to try the man.

Miles wiped blood from his nose, which was bleeding freely. His brow was cut as well, dripping blood down his face. Two Blue Hands remained.

A short pause in the battle gave Miles the time to clear out his eye and wipe the blood dripping down his face. The dark red blood stained his skin, which was still glowing with anger.

Miles looked inward again, thinking back to the pain River had suffered, the pain that he had suffered. The fire of anger began to rage again. "I would give in if I thought that it would buy some sort of comfort for my friends, if it helped them in any way. But you...animals would just use me to lure them into another trap. I would die if it would stop you. But I will not just lie down and die, not today. Today, I will inflict upon you what you did to me; I will reduce what you thought that you had to nothing. You believe that you can just walk all over people like us because we aren't human to you. I may not be like regular people are, but today I am what you aren't. Alive."

With that Miles charged the remaining two Blue Hands. Their leader began to flee, retreating behind their defense. Miles wrench thundered into one of the Blue Hand's guard, breaking the forearms of the man. Other Blue Hand chopped his leg around in a roundhouse kick. Miles easily ducked the kick. His wrench charged forward, impacting heavily into the man's groin, leaving the man crumpled on the ground. The armor had dulled the pain, but did not stop it. A bullet ended the pain. One Blue Hand remained alive, both of his forearms broken. Miles smashed his wrench into the man's face a few times, then began to run after the leader.

Miles followed the smell of the evil man, the stench still fresh in his nostrils. Miles knew that the smell was in his head, just like the colors of people's emotions. The man was running through the hallways ahead of him. Young children and even people Miles age were all moving in one direction through the hallways. _Mal did it._ Miles did not slow down, just kept running after the man. Each person was the color of fear, but hope rang strongly in each as well.

The man finally entered an empty corridor. Miles took one shot, hitting the man in the calf and throwing him to the ground. The man began to crawl away, so Miles put a bullet in his other calf. A kick rolled the man over. He was crying, all of his cockiness from before was gone.

"So those are your little experiments?" Miles kicked the man in the face. "How many of them did you mess around with? How many of them are like me? You twisted shit. I won't enjoy this, but neither will you."

Miles raised the wrench, bringing it down on the man's kneecap. Miles could feel the bones collapsing under the pressure. The man was repeating his safe word, "Eta kuram na smekh."

Miles screamed, the safe word threatening to bring him to sleep. "No! I will not be your little slave." Miles punch broke the man's jaw, silencing his words. "Those words used to hold me, bind me to your will. I will not have it."

Miles brought the wrench down again, smashing the bones in the man's remaining kneecap to little bits. "You are mine." Miles stomped on the man's stomach, kicked him in the ribs. Miles brought his boot up high, dropping it on the man's face. An orbit cracked, the nose snapped. Miles kicked the side of the man's head. Red misted Miles' vision, River's dream still replaying in his head. "I don't know if you noticed but I have anger problems. You wanna know why?" Miles foot cracked the man's forearm. "It's because of you. How many of those kids out there are going to be like me? Will they have memories? Will they want their memories?"

The handgun rose slowly. "Die." A single blast echoed through the corridors, followed a few seconds later by a chorus of echoes, the sound of whatever was left in Miles' clip being emptied.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Miles stumbled through the hallways. His brow was bleeding heavily and his nose hadn't stopped. His eye had swelled up, and was covered with sticky blood, so Miles was relying on one eye to navigate the corridors. Miles finally found his way back, where some of the inmates were still walking towards the exit. Miles spat blood onto the wall next to him, his nose was gushing blood directly into his mouth. All of the inmates that Miles passed stayed well clear of him, they probably weren't even used to being near other people. Miles turned the corner, finding the hallway where all of the Blue Hand's lay. Three were dead, and the last was still lying on the ground. Miles ignored them, looking back once after he passed them, noticing the trail of blood he was leaving.

Miles wiped his face with his hand, his hand coming away dripping with wet blood. The injuries didn't seem that bad, but Miles was still losing a lot of blood. He wobbled on his feet, feeling a little light headed. He tore his shirt off, tying it tightly around the side of his face to keep his eye from bleeding too badly. Blood from his nose was leaking down onto his chest, droplets rolling down like drips of sweat. _I always seem to end up bleeding when I get mad._ Miles laughed softly to himself, the loss of blood taking a toll on his mental capacities.

Miles snorted, sending blood flying. He had no idea how to get out. He was standing in front of the power station, but he didn't have a map back to the air shaft. He sat down with his back up against the wall, holding his nose to help stem the bleeding. The wall was cold against his bare back. Miles snorted again, spraying blood on his legs. _It's a nice time for a nap._  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Miles woke up in the infirmary. He could still only see out of one eye, the other one covered with a bandage. His head hurt something fierce, a dull aching pain. He looked down at his sneakers, which were tightly laced and spattered with his own blood. "What the hell happened? Where's my shirt?"

Simon dropped from the counter, though Miles could not see because he was standing to the side with the bandaged eye. "You passed out from blood loss, Jayne picked you up when he went to check on you. You're lucky that we got to you before some kind of security officer did."

"How did the job go?"

"No-one else was hurt, the guards just sort of gave up when the inmates were let loose because there were so many of them. I expect they made a run for the hills instead of doing anything about it. The media picked up the story once the kids left the building, you can find a recording on the cortex when you get back on your feet. The best part is that we got away anonymously. I must say, Mal usually isn't one for plans, but this one turned out pretty well. No-one was shot...at least on our side. You were the only one that got banged up. I'll let the Captain know that you're awake, he'll probably want to talk to you."

"Will do." Miles drifted into sleep again, despite his efforts to stay awake long enough to talk to Mal.  


XXXXXXXXXX  
Miles woke up again to the ceiling of the infirmary. At least this time someone had gotten him a blanket. Miles sat up, his head didn't hurt anymore except for the cut on his brow, which was still wrapped in a bandage. Miles wiped his nose, scraping away some dried blood that stuck there. Miles sighed; he would be scraping blood out of his nose for a few days. _At least it's not broken, though how I managed to avoid breaking it is beyond me._ Miles wandered back to his room. The lights were on dim. _It's night time. I must have been sleeping for a while._ Miles shrugged on a new shirt, which advertised some kind of sport that Miles didn't know anything about. He wandered up to the mess hall. Whatever Simon had given him made him pretty hungry.

The only thing that Miles could find in the mess hall was a mess of protein. Miles didn't even bother using the micro oven, he just started to spoon the sludge into his mouth. He moved up to the bridge, hoping to find out where Serenity was headed. The protein was slowly dripping to one side of the plate, slowly enough to be molasses. Miles shrugged, just happy to have something to eat.

The view from the Serenity's view port was simply black. No planets were in sight. _Figures, Mal probably wanted to stay low for a while._ He sat down in the main pilot's chair, taking another spoon of protein. The copilots chair was turned the opposite direction, but Miles could feel River's presence. She was sleeping in the copilot's chair. Miles stretched his legs out, piling the rest of his protein into his mouth. He dropped his plate next to the scanner, pushing a dinosaur to the side. He leaned back in the chair, staring out at the stars. Things weren't going to be easy, they wouldn't ever be easy. Miles had little control over himself when his anger rose, and he probably would have that dream again sometime in the future. _Yeah, things weren't going to be easy, but they are going to be better._

Miles spent the sometime looking out at space, drifting off to sleep after a few hours.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Miles woke up groggily. He wiped his uncovered eye, stretching his arms and legs. The darkness outside the window hadn't changed, but the lights inside were glowing. Miles slowly turned in the pilot's chair. He checked the clock, it was extremely early. He didn't need much sleep during the night because he had spent most of yesterday sleeping.

"No more dreams." River was awake, her chair was still turned the other way.

"At least for last night. They'll probably come back around some time."

"You should leave me. You don't need Serenity anymore."

"Riv, you don't know how wrong you are. I have finally found Serenity."

River turned in her chair. "But you don't need us anymore. You can go with the others."

"What others?"  


"All the others like us. Someone made an organization to give them all homes."

"But I have my home. If it's okay with Mal I'm not moving."

Mal strode through the door. "Sorry Miles but I need you to get out."

Miles turned, "Oh, okay."

"Wait, what? I just need to use the chair."

Miles stood out of the chair "Mal can I stay with Serenity?"

Mal swiveled the chair, flipping a few switches. "Yeah kid, you're part of the crew. You're gonna have to help us out around the ship though."

"Then I'm staying, River." Miles picked up his dirty plate from the night before and walked to the mess. River smiled, but still looked like something was bothering her.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Miles had found a data pad connected to the cortex as soon as he could. He found what he was looking for, the news report from the Academy. He fast forwarded through the news anchors talking, skipping directly to the reporter.

"...Thanks Ted. This is Riona Eire, and I'm here at the site of "The Academy," where dozens of young children were imprisoned and used in scientific experiments. These children have been most likely been driven mad. Our inside contact is releasing them now, unknown to the Blue Sun corporation." The camera angle shifted from the reporter to the front of the Academy. The doors were thrown open and a stream of children poured out. "Here they are! Hopefully we'll be able to talk to some of them and find out what Blue Sun was doing and what kind of ties the Alliance had to it. Here one of the children come, we'll try to get a quote from him.

A little boy appeared on the screen. The reporter's voice came from off the screen. "What happened inside this facility?"

The little boy began to sing, "Rain rain go away."

The reporter moved on to the next child. "Excuse me? Little miss? Can you tell me what happened here?"

"You're name is Riona Eire, you are from Ariel and your birthday is February second. You became a reporter after failing EMT training."

The reporter looked completely confused. "Yes...um, well Ted we'll report back in when we find some clear facts."

The scene switched back to the news anchor. Miles switched off the data pad; nearly everything that the anchors said was crap anyways.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
River's consciousness was expanding. This happened every once in a while, she would get extremely in tune with people's thoughts around her. Unfortunately it caused major headaches as well, much like a hangover only with thoughts instead of sound. She sat down on her bed, with her head in her hands. Mal's thoughts invaded her head. _We're picking up Inara on our next stop. It'll be nice to have her back on board. I really, really miss her._ The thoughts of the others rose to drown him out. The thoughts were too many to count, each changing ever second. River's senses overloaded, sending her mind reeling.

Miles wandered into the room. "Stop it Riv, you're giving me a headache." The connection was passing some of the sensory overload to Miles. He rubbed his temples.

River attempted to sort her thoughts out, failing miserably. "Engine coolant needs a pressure check. And the weights are treating me well today. And Inara's coming back. And I really love Kaylee."

"Ow, ow, ow. I need some painkillers or something." Miles sat down on the edge of the bed. "Is this what it's always like? You know, bein' a reader?"

River shook her head. "Usually better. Sometimes it's worse."

Simon's head poked through the doorway. "Everything okay River?"

Miles nodded, "She's fine, we were just having a group migraine. Don't suppose you want to join in?"

River started to shake, and Miles eyes widened.

Simon shook his arm a little, "What is it? Are you two okay?"

"So that's Wash..." Miles was watching Zoe's thoughts through River. River shook her head, trying to deny the vision. Zoe was rerunning Wash's death in her head.

Simon nodded grimly. "I'll get you some kind of painkiller, River gets these headaches often."

An enormous javelin struck home in Wash's chest. Miles hand hit the bed next to him. He growled under his breath to himself. "Come on Miles, keep it together. No need to get mad now, everything's fine." Red mist floated at the edges of his vision. Zoe's thoughts replayed, until River screamed.

"Gorramn it." The red mist took over. River was screaming on the bed, and Miles was struggling to 

avoid doing anything extremely stupid in his rage, banging his hand against the wall. Miles concentrated on the pain of the vision. He laid his palm on her forehead and left the rest of the world in the back of his mind. River had stopped screaming, the echoes ringing through the ship. Miles heard Simon crash through the door, but was so deep in the vision that he didn't notice it. Rivers eyes widened to their full as the vision ceased. Her mind blanked, turning white as River floated through it like water.

Miles braced himself as he absorbed the visions. His mind stretched to the breaking point, but his hand never left River's forehead. The visions assaulted Miles mind, pummeling it as he took the full of their force away from River.

River punched Miles directly in the jaw. "Not your pain!"

The pain from the visions and River's punch was almost unbearable, but Miles started to laugh. "See River? Things won't be so bad anymore. You've got me and I've got you."

Zoe had stopped thinking of Wash's death for a while, but River's mind kept reproducing the image. The image finally slowed and stopped.

Miles unwrapped the bandage that was still covering his eye, and scraped off some dry blood that had stuck to his head. "We'll deal with things as they come."

Simon handed over a pair of pills to both River and Miles, and a cup of water. River washed down the pills and handed the cup to Miles, who used the remaining water to swallow his.

River kissed Miles as soon as he had finished swallowing the pills. Simon quietly left the room.

"Thank you Miles."

Miles was reeling a little bit from the sudden kiss. A smile widened on his face, which turned into a slight grimace as pain shot through his head. "Things won't get easier, River, but they will get better."

River leaned her head on Miles shoulder. "Don't ever leave."

"I don't plan on it."

XXXXXXXXXX

Mal looked out the front viewport, the view of the approaching planet holding his eyes.

_I'm getting Inara back, we're safe from the Alliance for now, everyone on my ship is happy. __This__ is Serenity._

Serenity soared through space, a little piece of freedom.


End file.
